Spill-proof container

ABSTRACT

A container includes a bowl having a bowl interior space for holding solid material and a bowl opening for accessing the interior space of the bowl from an exterior of the bowl. The container also includes a bowl support having a bowl support interior space within which the bowl is located and a bowl support opening for accessing the interior space of the bowl support from an exterior of the container. The bowl is biased toward an upright orientation of the bowl independent of the rotational orientation of the bowl support. The bowl support opening overlies the bowl opening when both the bowl and the bowl support are in respective upright orientations, and the bowl support covers the bowl openings when the bowl support is tilted.

The present application is a U.S. continuation of, and claims priorityunder 35 U.S.C. §120 to, U.S. nonprovisional patent application Ser. No.10/834,631, filed Apr. 29, 2004, which published as U.S. patentapplication publication no. US 2005/0242100 A1, which is incorporated byreference herein.

BACKGROUND

All of the material in this patent document, including the computerprogram listing, is subject to copyright protection under the copyrightlaws of the United States and other countries. The copyright owner hasno objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patentdocument or the patent disclosure, as it appears in officialgovernmental records but, otherwise, all other copyright rightswhatsoever are reserved.

The present invention relates to a spill-proof container, and inparticular to a particulate material container with an access openingthat closes when the container is tipped from its normal uprightposition, preventing contents spillage.

Numerous spill-proof containers are described in the prior art forholding drinks or other liquids. When designed for use by children, suchcontainers are commonly referred to as “sippy” cups. Spill-proofcontainers for liquids prevent liquid spillage by using a tubular memberthat extends into a larger outer container for holding a reservoir ofliquid, or by using a valve arrangement adjacent the discharge opening,which is often sized to fit the user's mouth. These containers are notsuitable for use in holding particulate material, whether or not aliquid is also present, since it is necessary for the user to haveaccess, either by hand or a utensil, to the particulate material inorder to remove the material from the container.

Several containers are also described in the prior art for use inholding particulate materials, or a combination of a particulatematerial and a liquid. These containers purport to hold particulatematerial in an easily accessible manner, while preventing discharge ofmaterial from the container when the container is tipped or inverted.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,174 to Williams, describes aspill-proof container for dry granular foodstuffs, such as cereal, whichis comprised of an outer container into which the foodstuff is placed,and a smaller, open-bottom container that extends into the outercontainer. A cover extends over the space between the outer and innercontainers. The user reaches through the inner container into the outercontainer to remove the foodstuff. If the container is tipped, thefoodstuff is held within the space between the containers. Due to theconfiguration required to prevent spillage, the outer container can onlybe partially filled, and access is cumbersome, since only the materialimmediately beneath the inner container is accessible.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,103 to Abernathy et al. also describes a cereal bowlcomprised of a smaller container within a larger container. The spacebetween the upper edges of the containers is open. In the event the bowlis tipped, the cereal in the inner bowl spills into the outer bowl. Thisalternative has no provision for recovery of the spilled material withinthe outer bowl and effectively requires discarding the cereal in theevent of spillage.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,656,514 to Tubbs and U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,384 to Voloshindescribe containers for food items, such as cereal flakes, crackers,cookies, and the like, in which the top is covered with a cap having aplurality of flexible, pie-shaped flaps that together form a spill-proofcover. The flaps are flexed in order to access the container contents.The flaps hinder access and prevent viewing of the contents.

There remains a need for a spill-proof container for particulatematerial that enables easy access to and viewing of the material duringnormal container usage, but which will prevent spillage of the materialif the container is tipped. Preferably, the material within thecontainer is not discharged from its original storage location and isrecoverable when the container is returned to the upright position.

SUMMARY

Generally, the present invention addresses this need by providing aspill-proof container for particulate material that is comprised of abowl with an access opening, and a bowl support for holding the bowl sothat the bowl remains in an upright orientation and the access openingis covered by a part of the bowl support when the container is tipped.The support includes an open-top chamber in the shape of a truncatedsphere, i.e., a spherical chamber with a slice cut off of the top toform the access opening. The normally upright, open-top bowl is freelyrotatable within the chamber relative to the support, with the supportand bowl openings being aligned to permit access to the bowl interiorwhen the support and bowl are both in their upright orientation andunaligned to close the bowl access opening when the outer section is notin the upright position.

Preferably, the support includes a base section with an upwardlyoriented hemispherical chamber, and a top section with a downwardlyoriented truncated hemispherical chamber and an upper access openingformed by truncation at the top of the hemisphere. The base and topsections are releasibly joined so that the upper and lower hemisphericalopenings form a truncated spherical bowl receiving chamber. The accessopening in the top section is preferably circular with a given diameterless than the diameter of the chamber. One of the hemispherical sectionsmay include a projection around its edge to releasibly attach thesections.

The bowl section of the spill-proof container has an outer wall that isgenerally in the shape of a truncated sphere, with the truncationforming the access opening into the bowl interior. The bowl has adiameter approximately equal to the chamber diameter, and is freelyrotatable within the support chamber. The shape of the interior is notcritical to the invention. For maximum volume, however, the interior ofthe bowl will also be in the shape of truncated sphere.

The bowl should be normally oriented to its upright position, i.e., thecenter of gravity of the bowl should be below the bowl midpoint, so thatthe bowl will remain in its upright position when the support is tilted.The design of the bowl or an added weight can be used to ensure that thecenter of gravity is below the midpoint.

In order to reduce the friction between the outer wall of the bowl andthe chamber wall, a part of the bowl wall may be spaced from the chamberwall so that only selected areas of the bowl wall make frictionalcontact with the chamber wall during rotation of the bowl. Spacing maybe achieved by decreasing the diameter of at least a section of the bowlwall or by increasing at least a section of the chamber wall.

For example, the bowl wall may include a continuous annular uppersection extending around the bowl access opening, a lower section acrossthe bottom of the bowl, and a continuous middle wall section extendingaround the middle of the bowl between the upper and lower sections. Themiddle section may have a diameter less than the upper and middlesections. Thus, when the support is tipped and rotates relative to thebowl, which remains in an upright position, the frictional contact willonly be between the chamber wall and the bowl upper and lower wallsections, substantially reducing friction and facilitating freedom ofrotation.

Alternatively, the diameter of the bowl wall may be uniform while thesupport chamber diameter is greater in some areas than in others. Forexample, the chamber wall may include a continuous annular upper sectionextending around the chamber access opening, a lower section across thebottom of the chamber, and a continuous middle wall section extendingaround the middle of the chamber between the upper and lower sections.The middle section may have a diameter greater than the upper and middlesections. Thus, when the support is tipped and rotates relative to thebowl, which remains in an upright position, the frictional contact willonly be between the bowl wall and the chamber upper and lower wallsections, again substantially reducing friction and facilitating freedomof rotation.

Other configurations to achieve the reduced friction will be apparent toone skilled in the art after reading the present description. Forexample, either the bowl wall or chamber wall may be “dimpled” with aplurality of projections, with the ends of the projections having thediameter of the opposing wall.

When used, a solid material is placed in the bowl. For example, thesolid material may be a particulate material such as a foodstuff, e.g.,cereal, cookies, candy, etc. Alternatively, the foodstuff may be ananimal food, such as dog or cat food. The container may also be used fornon-food materials, such as parts, supplies, etc. Due to the relativelywide access opening, the material within the bowl is easily viewable,and can be reached by hand or a utensil.

In the event that the base is tipped from its upright position, eitherpartially or completely, the bowl will remain in the upright positiondue to its center of gravity being below its midpoint. Thus, the chamberand bowl access openings, which are normally in alignment to provideaccess to the bowl interior, will become nonaligned due to rotation ofthe chamber access opening to the side of the bowl access opening, andthe bowl access opening will be covered by a part of the chamber wall.Depending on the tolerance between the chamber and bowl walls, theclosure of the bowl access opening can prevent spillage of liquids inaddition to spillage of any solid material content.

Thus, the container of the present invention is suitable for a varietyof end uses. For example, the container can be used as a food containerby children, invalids and others who may accidentally tip the containerover during eating. The container can also be used as a pet foodcontainer, or as a holder for any type of solid material that mightnormally spill when the container is tipped over.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the exterior of a container of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of a preferred embodiment of thecontainer in the upright position.

FIG. 3 is a sectional side view of the container of FIG. 2, with thesupport partially tipped.

FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of the container of FIG. 2, with thesupport tipped to approximately 90.degree. for its normally vertical,upright orientation.

FIG. 5 is an alternative embodiment of the invention in which thechamber wall has an enlarged diameter around its center section.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, terms such as horizontal, upright,vertical, above, below, beneath, and the like, are used solely for thepurpose of clarity in illustrating the invention, and should not betaken as words of limitation. The drawings are for the purpose ofillustrating the invention and are not intended to be to scale.

As shown in FIGS. 1-4, a preferred embodiment of container, generally10, is comprised of a bowl support formed of base section 12 thatincludes an upwardly oriented hemispherical chamber and top section 14that includes a downwardly oriented truncated hemispherical chamberhaving an upper circular access opening 16. Base section 12 and topsection 14 are releasibly joined by flange 18 to form a truncatedspherical bowl-receiving chamber defined by chamber wall 20. Thediameter of access opening 16 is less than the diameter of the chamber,and is preferably from about 25 to about 85% of the diameter of thechamber.

Container 10 further includes bowl 30 having an outer wall 32 that isgenerally in the shape of a truncated sphere, and an interior chamber 34that is also in the shape of a truncated sphere but of a smallerdiameter than the bowl outer wall 32. Bowl 30 includes an access opening36 having a diameter approximately equal to the diameter of accessopening 16. Outer wall 32 is comprised of continuous annular uppersection 38 extending around the periphery of opening 36, a lower section40 across the bottom of bowl 30, and a middle or intermediate section 42extending around bowl 30 between upper section 38 and lower section 40.

In order for bowl 30 to remain in its upright, vertical orientationregardless of the orientation of the support, the center of gravity ofbowl 30 should be below the center point of bowl 30. As shown in thepreferred embodiment, this is achieved by molding weight 44 into thebottom of bowl 30.

As shown in FIGS. 2-4, the diameters of upper section 38 and lowersection 40 are approximately equal to the diameter of chamber wall 20,while the diameter of middle section 42 is less than the diameter ofchamber wall 20. As illustrated in the drawings, bowl 32 is shown spacedslightly from chamber wall 20 to better illustrate the invention. Whenactually constructed, however, the diameters of the two walls aresubstantially the same so long as there is no frictional binding betweenthe walls. Thus, when the support is tipped and rotates relative to bowl30, which remains in an upright position, the frictional contact willonly be between the chamber wall 20 and bowl upper and lower wallsections 38 and 40 respectively, substantially reducing friction andfacilitating freedom of rotation.

Alternatively, as shown in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, thediameter of bowl wall 50 may be constant while the diameter of supportchamber wall 52 is greater in some sections than in others. Asillustrated in FIG. 5, the chamber wall 52 includes a continuous annularupper section 54 extending around chamber access opening 56, a lowersection 58, and a continuous middle wall section 60 extending around themiddle of chamber wall 52 between the upper section 54 and lower section58. Middle section 60 has a diameter greater than upper section 54 andlower section 58. Thus, when the support is tipped and rotates relativeto the bowl, which remains in an upright position, the frictionalcontact will only be between bowl wall 50 and upper and lower wallsections 54 and 58, again substantially reducing friction andfacilitating freedom of rotation.

Certain modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled inthe art upon a reading of the foregoing description. It should beunderstood that all such modifications and improvements have beendeleted herein for the sake of conciseness and readability but areproperly within the scope of the following claims.

1. A container, comprising: (a) a bowl having, (i) a bowl interior spacefor holding solid material, and (ii) a bowl opening for accessing theinterior space of the bowl from an exterior of the bowl; (b) a bowlsupport having, (i) a bowl support interior space within which the bowlis located, and (ii) a bowl support opening for accessing the interiorspace of the bowl support from an exterior of the container; (c)wherein, (i) the bowl is biased toward an upright orientation of thebowl independent of the rotational orientation of the bowl support, and(ii) the bowl support opening overlies the bowl opening when both thebowl and the bowl support are in respective upright orientations.
 2. Thecontainer of claim 1, wherein, when the bowl is in an uprightorientation and the bowl support is rotated from an upright orientation,the bowl is configured to remain in the upright orientation.
 3. Thecontainer of claim 1, wherein, when the bowl is in an uprightorientation and the bowl support is not in an upright orientation, thebowl support covers at least a portion of the bowl opening.
 4. Thecontainer of claim 1, wherein, when the bowl is in an uprightorientation and the bowl support is rotated to an upside downorientation, the bowl remains in the upright orientation and the bowlsupport covers the bowl opening precluding access therethrough.
 5. Thecontainer of claim 1, further comprising particulate material containedwithin the bowl interior space and, (i) when both the bowl and the bowlsupport are in respective upright orientations, the particulate materialwithin the bowl interior space is accessible by hand through the bowlsupport opening and the bowl opening, and (ii) when the bowl support ismoved into an upside down orientation and the bowl remains in theupright orientation, the bowl support covers the bowl opening and theparticular material is prevented from spilling out of the bowl interiorspace.
 6. The container of claim 5, wherein, when the bowl support isreturned to an upright orientation from an upside down orientation withthe bowl in an upright orientation, the particulate material within thebowl interior space is again accessible by hand through the bowl supportopening and the bowl opening.
 7. The container of claim 1, wherein theinterior space of the bowl may be viewed, from the exterior of the bowlsupport, through both the bowl support opening and the bowl opening,when both the bowl and the bowl support are in respective uprightorientations.
 8. The container of claim 1, wherein rotationalorientation of the bowl is independent of rotational orientation of thebowl support.
 9. The container of claim 1, wherein the bowl has a weightincorporated into a bottom wall section of the bowl, and the bowl isbiased toward an upright orientation by gravity.
 10. The container ofclaim 9, wherein the weight is molded into the bottom wall section ofthe bowl.
 11. The container of claim 1, wherein the interior space ofthe bowl support comprises a truncated spherical chamber.
 12. Thecontainer of claim 11, wherein an exterior shape of the bowl comprises atruncated spherical chamber.
 13. The container of claim 1, wherein thebowl support interior space is configured such that the bowl supportdoes not prohibit any rotational orientation of the bowl, the bowl beingfreely rotatable within the bowl support.
 14. The container of claim 1,wherein the bowl opening is the only opening in the bowl that isdimensioned to permit access by hand to the bowl interior space from theexterior of the bowl.
 15. The container of claim 1, wherein the accessopening in the only opening of the bowl that permits access by hand tothe interior of the bowl.
 16. The container of claim 1, wherein the bowlsupport is comprised of separable upper and lower sections.
 17. Thecontainer of claim 1, wherein the bowl is rotatable, relative to thebowl support, 180 degrees in every rotational direction.